We are back in the 17th century, at the turn of the Renaissance and the Baroque. Accompanied monody emerges in Italy, and the first operas are composed. As violins and other members of the string family, as well as flutes and bassoons, become increasingly refined, instrumental music takes on greater significance. A major-minor key system is taking shape. However, Renaissance polyphony – with its masses and motets, often still written in modal scales, with rich textures and dense counterpoint taking precedence over harmony – remains quite strong, especially in places where Italian innovations arrive with a delay.
The Capella Cracoviensis Choir takes us back in time, presenting vocal compositions from northern and southern Europe during two concerts. First, we will discover the works of Mikołaj Zieleński, Heinrich Schütz and Johann Hermann Schein and experience how the achievements of the progressive Venetian school (polychoral music!) gained popularity beyond the Italian Peninsula. The second concert will be a real treat in terms of repertoire, as it will feature rarely performed works by the finest composers of the golden age of Portuguese polyphony: Manuel Cardoso, Filipe de Magalhãesa and Duarte Lobo, who remained faithful to the Renaissance art of musical composition. We are back in the 17th century; the battle between stile antico and stile moderno rages on…
10 June 2026, 8:15pm
Heinrich Schütz Herr, nun lässest du deinen Diener in Friede fahren
Heinrich Schütz Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen
Johann Hermann Schein Ich will schweigen
Mikołaj Zieleński Posuisti Domine
Mikołaj Zieleński Anima nostra
Heinrich Schütz Musikalische Exequien
Klaudia Łoboda organ / conductor
Capella Cracoviensis choir
17 June 2026, 8:15pm
Manuel Cardoso Missa pro defunctis (Liber primus missarum, Lisbon, 1625)
Manuel Cardoso Sitivit anima mea
Manuel Cardoso Non mortui
Duarte Lobo Audivi vocem de caelo
Filipe de Magalhães Comissa mea pavesco
Marek Opaska bass / conductor
Capella Cracoviensis choir
Photo by Jacek Poremba
